N.K. state media resume criticism of South Korea

SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- North Korean state media resumed criticism of South Korea on Sunday, with its main newspaper claiming that Seoul can never evade responsibility for worsening the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

The Rodong Sinmun newspaper issued the criticism, bristling at recent remarks by South Korean officials that tensions on the peninsula rose after North Korean missile launches, though Seoul has tried to continue dialogue with Pyongyang.

"Nothing can hide the criminal identity of South Korean authorities who have been destroying peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula with north-targeted military drills and the introduction of high-tech weapons," the paper said in an article carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

In August, state media of the North had churned out near-daily criticism of the South over the military exercises that Pyongyang has long denounced as an invasion rehearsal, but such criticism had gradually died down in recent weeks.

Sunday's Rodong Sinmun article appears to mark a resumption of such criticism in what could be seen as a move aimed at strengthening its negotiating leverage ahead of an expected resumption of nuclear negotiations with the United States.(END)